What a return policy says about your marketing

Quality is when the customer returns and the product doesn't.—Jim Taglieber, Miami Valley Steel Service Inc.

Suppose you have a bad keyboard. The thing works but the lettering is faded or one key doesn’t work correctly. You want to get it fixed but you don’t want to be without it.

My laptop keyboard broke. I called the manufacturer who was quite helpful. She quickly gave me a return authorization and even sent me a prepaid label for shipping. But… I was without my laptop while it was being fixed. Through a series of misadventures, it ultimately took six weeks (that is, six weeks without the computer) to get it repaired. I had to buy a new computer so I could continue working. So, a mostly good vendor experience with very friendly and helpful people. But not a good customer outcome.

My son has some wonky keyboard-y thing for his recording studio setup. While cleaning the keyboard, some of the lettering was erased. He called the manufacturer who sent a replacement keyboard and asked him to send the old one back when it was convenient.

One process

Package the return using the original box if you have it or purchase a shipping container.

Return the equipment (at your expense)

Wait until we receive and process it

We send you a replacement or a refund.

Another approach

Call or email us with your problem

We send you a replacement or refund to get you productive again

You send us the old equipment using the shipping materials we provided

If you don’t return the old equipment, we’ll bill you

The first process is designed around the vendor’s internal operations. It’s easier for vendors to run a serial process. It’s event driven. This happens, then that happens. And the onus is on the customer to keep things moving.

The second approach is designed around the customer’s productivity.

(Doesn't that sound better?)

Do you ask, “How can we get the customer productive again?”

Or do you ask, “How do we reduce our risk?”

(Or said differently, do your processes assume the customer is a criminal?)

In a transactional business, you want a customer to make future transactions. Even in a one-time purchase business, even if you won’t get more from that customer, don’t you want to him or her to say nice things to friends about your product?

Customers are actually quite forgiving. They understand that mistakes happen and sometimes there are quality problems. But customers have limited patience with your internally-focused processes. Take a look at each step of your delivery and ask, “Is this best for our customers?”

About Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com

In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com